A woman from Broken Hill in far west New South Wales has been found guilty of assaulting police with a quiche.
This news appeared online today and I just had to share. I guess because we have gun laws we have to be more creative with our assault weapons!
LINK : http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-11/woman-guilty-over-quiche-assault/4623106
Here is the first in my version of Alphabet posting.
Ann Gunning circa 1953
aboriginal art by the artist Barbara Cleary
Agricultural Show, Essex, 1973, Hafenrichter, Conrad
Aircraft Detection Before The Invention Of Radar
Alice
Art deco
Overseas news reports are full of shark stories now that one white American male has been sadly taken by a shark off the coast of Western Australian. They are in raptures that they might be hunting down the “killer shark” in revenge.
Well, I am sure that in the whole Indian Ocean that they will, with absolute certainty, find the exact shark that took the poor man. Aren’t you? I mean the shark must be swimming around with a big target on its back just to make it easier to find.
It is not like we humans invaded its natural habitat, swimming up and down in front of it, communicating, look at me, look at me. Right?
We don’t usually hunt down the “killer shark” these days, as most people recognise that the shark is just doing what it does naturally. It feeds. If we are silly enough to take the risk of going into its hunting grounds then we can expect to be on the menu. The shark doesn’t know we are a superior species, with sense enough to stay out of its habitat.
Plus, it is making Americans look like hysterics again. No doubt the big show of hunting the shark is just to calm the nerves of all those tourists who want adventure, without actual adventure!
I am sorry for the victim, and his family and friends, but surely no one can blame the shark for being a prime example of survival of the fittest.
Sunday was a great day of staycation. Daughter2 and I went to the morning movie session of Submarine. which was a great movie about teenage angst, coming of age, and relationships.
Afterwards we had lunch at Libertine at the Barracks. We ordered a jug of pimms which was cold and delicious, while we waited for our meal.
I ordered a Vietnamese chicken salad, while D2 had spring rolls.
Not quite ready to go home, we took in another movie. This time around we saw The Help, another superb movie. And no, we usually don’t take in two movies in one day, but hey we are on staycation!
All I can say is that Staycation Sundays are fantastic. Try one, sometime!
The author, Nikki Gemmell, writing in the Weekend Australian Magazine, last weekend declared, after returning from 14 years of living in England:
…life is about wringing the most happiness we can out of our time on Earth, and for me that means old mates and family and land and beauty – a spiky, prickly ravishing Australian beauty…Under a replenishing sun. Right now I’m like a plant turning towards the light, drinking it up. I’ve found my place in the world, blazing contentment and revelling in the gift of belonging – and growing up.
It’s called home.
Some of us have known that all along, but hey, better late than never, Nikki!
Australian blogger Vicki Archer lives between England and France and blogs on French Essence. She has an excellent post on How to grow your blog . Some of it is pure common sense, but like many so many obvious things, we neglect the obvious from time to time.
If you are committed to blogging, enjoy a refresher….
A day at a country restaurant in a small village should be prescribed to every woman on a regular basis. Daughter1 and I went to the little town of Forest Hill to meet my sister, brother-in-law and mother for lunch at what is fast becoming one of ur favourite eateries Café 4342.
The Cafe is combined with the Post Office and a small gift shop – all run by various family members I believe.
mail boxes for the locals
gift section and connecting door to the post office
what is a restaurant without a resident pig?
I am going back for the rosella jam devonshire tea - my favourite jam in this world!
Sister celebrated a birthday last week, and so it was a slightly belated birthday celebration for her. Regulars may remember that I first encountered Café 4342 with some girlfriends a few weeks ago. Since then Daughter2 has visited with a group of friends and can now recommend the salmon salad. I had a steak sandwich this time and it was so tender and delicious that I declared it the bet I have ever had. And no chips tacked on the plate and so no guilt if I ate them or waste if I didn’t! Two others at the table chose various pizzas, and two the lamb and beef stew. Most times our Mum will complain about the food not being cooked to her liking, but she had not a word to utter about the meal, so it was voted 11 out of 10 by the Flamingo Dancer Family!
a winter stew for a winter's day!
the most delicious steak sandwich
pizza!
Afterwards, we wandered through the craft shop, across the road. The lovely owner had a variety of hand made clothes, and craft items, as well as some second hand china and home accessories. I happily purchased a hand towel with a crocheted top that I love to use in the kitchen. The button top allows me to connect it the cupboard handle near the kitchen sink and in easy reach of wet hands – and it doesn’t fall on the floor or wander or for other uses!
like stepping back into the past - a mix of vintage and the 1970s!
Daughter1 found some crocheted doilies that were priced at four or five dollars each, and were not only well below city prices but were beautifully made.
grain "assisted" ?
old railway siding
Queensland style country pub - the local hotels were once the main accommodation for country travellers. Each town would boast more than one pub!
On the way back we stopped at the country butcher, Schulte’ Meat Tavern, where my Dad used to buy our weekly meat order when I was a child. Dad was friends with the original Mr Schulte. Now days it is must be into its third generation, but it is still famous for its wurst.including house-made wursts, which are famous for miles around (even my local Brisbane Woolworths sells Schulte’s wursts). Not as good as my grandmother’s wurst recipe I am told by all the family members who got to taste the original, and is now made by my Uncle and my brother, but a pretty good second! There is a selection of wines (including Ballandean Estate) and plenty of specialty German food, like gherkins and sauerkraut. So naturally, I bought some wurst and a lovely piece of silverside to cook for Sunday lunch when Daughter2 might be over. I received a “I feel a silverside coming on” email during the week.
I have never developed a taste for sauerkraut so was not tempted in that direction, but I did buy some beetroot flavoured corn chips! I love beetroot, and was over the moon tasting the beetroot relish that had been on my steak sandwich at Cafe 4342 earlier.
We were home by 4, after a lovely family day. Not long after Mother Flamingo Dancer phoned as she always does to hear that we had arrived home safely. I don’t know what she would do if we didn’t answer the phone, but it is her ritual to phone for the knowledge that we are safe and well, and I suspect to relive the day again for a few minutes. She sounded happy afterwards, so that is a good thing!
In fact, the whole day was a good thing. Happy Birthday, Sis!
After hearing about Riverbend Books and Tea Shop, I finally got to visit the bookshop this past week. I must say I was not disappointed and that it was every bit as delightful as I had heard. It is a bookshop in the traditional sense of the world. It made me miss the bookshop I managed in the 1990s…books, music and coffee!
The books are not cheap, and that is a real issue in these days of being able to buy discount online, or to download electronically, but Riverbend has found its own niche as a place for the community. They offer classes in social media for the dazed and confused, and also a read and knit book club! I read that they also offer a delivery service in the suburb – by bicycle!
They add more than value to their experience, they do what a good book shop should – help people become the people they want to become, the best version of themselves.
The “teashop” offers breakfast and lunch, and on the Friday that I was there it was a hive of activity. There were a few groups of teachers browsing books on the last term of school, young mothers meeting with their babies, and more than one person working away at a laptop – perhaps the next J.K. Rowling at work!
Riverbend Books – standing like a lone reed in a time of technological change. The book is alive and well! I just wish it was on my side of town…but then, maybe that is a good thing for my bank balance!
West Australian author Kim Scott was last night awarded the 2011 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel That Deadman Dance
Big-hearted, moving and richly rewarding, That Deadman Dance is set in the first decades of the 19th century in the area around what is now Albany, Western Australia. In playful, musical prose, the book explores the early contact between the Aboriginal Noongar people and the first European settlers.
The novel’s hero is a young Noongar man named Bobby Wabalanginy. Clever, resourceful and eager to please, Bobby befriends the new arrivals, joining them hunting whales, tilling the land, exploring the hinterland and establishing the fledgling colony. He is even welcomed into a prosperous local white family where he falls for the daughter, Christine, a beautiful young woman who sees no harm in a liaison with a native
2011 June 22, 3:16am
The Sun in Winter : Artist: Frey Micklethwait. Source: Museum Victoria.
On the day of Winter Solstice, Earth’s south pole is tilted away from the Sun. The Sun rises north of east, sets north of west and reaches 28 1/2° above the horizon at noon. This is, usually, the shortest day of the year.
Spring is coming!
